Lear, Edward. Original Drawing and Limerick

(London, ca. 1861). Pen and sepia ink drawing on paper, with three-line ink manuscript limerick below image, by Lear. Unevenly browned. Approximately 6 x 8 in. (152 x 203 mm). In frame, 13 x 16 7/8 in. (330 x 429 mm).

"There was an old person of Mold who shrank from sensations of cold, So he purchased some muffs, some furs, and some fluffs; And wrapped himself up from the cold."

An original nonsense drawing and limerick by Edward Lear. A version of this drawing was published in the 1861 third edition of A Book of Nonsense (p. 48). Justin Schiller records one other version, in a collection at the Houghton Library, University of Harvard (Nonsensus, Cross-Referencing Edward Lear's Book of Nonsense, 1988, p. 81). The Houghton copy has a number of slight textual variants. The present version follows the printed text.

This lot is located in Philadelphia.

Provenance

Chris Beetles Limited, London

Sotheby's, London, English Literature, History, Children's Books, December 8, 2020, Lot 178

From the collection of Justin G. Schiller

Lear, Edward. Original Drawing and Limerick